Richard Burke aka "The Irish Man" is back! :-D This is the first time I've penned a criminal since Bellatrix way back on HM, so I'm stoked.  Some of him may know him, some of you may not (Bio here). He's attached to one of AO's first & oldest plots, Runespoor Smuggling  (Wiki article).  For those of you unfamiliar or in need of a refresher: 


Runespoors, Their Venom, and Why We Smuggle Them

Wiki Article on Runespoor Venom

Runespoor Venom is a highly volatile magical accelerant. It cannot be combated with any type of magical tampering or altering, causing it to explode when one tries. It is highly lethal as a poison for this reason to witches and wizards who are magical by their nature and treatment is complicated and difficult. When Jonas Trevelyan lost his magic due to a cursed Egyptian dagger, exposure to Runespoor Venom is what jump-started his Magic back up. An attack on Adon Eleor laid him up for several weeks, nearly killed Kabir Ahmed, and is preventing Charisma Aldridge's knee from healing.

Due to its caustic nature, trying to transport venom itself should only be attempted by the highly idiotic as Nate Briggs discovered. Therefore, the snakes are smuggled instead. Once matured, their venom can be harvested in a (somewhat) less hazardous manner.

The First Wizarding War & The Department of Mysteries' Plan

When Lord Voldemort first rose to power, the Department of Mysteries experimented with Runespoor Venom in hopes to create a magical weapon against the Dark Lord and his followers. They contracted illegal runespoor smugglers (the Burkes) to bring the snakes into the UK. However, when the Burkes discovered why the DoM wanted the snakes, they ratted them out to Voldemort.

Safe to say, the Dark Wizard was outraged. This lead to the deaths of several key researchers and their families, including Unspeakable Renwick Raynor. The Head of the DoM was forced to abandon the project and the Ministry at large was never aware of it. The Unspeakable Murders were dismissed as hate crimes or vengeance exacted for refusing to join Lord Voldemort’s Death Eater regime.

The Dark Lord was defeated several months later, not by some fancy weapon, but a toddler protected by the power of love.

The Corruption Thickens: 1994 & the Murder of Auror Tait Aldridge

After the Death Eater attack at the Quidditch World Cup and much of the Ministry was smoothing the event over, the DoM used it as an excuse to revisit their Runespoor research. Burke agreed to resume selling the Department three-headed snakes as there wasn't the risk of angering a very dark and powerful lord. Except this time, the Wizarding World was not in the middle of war, and snakes he sold on the side to the Black Market landed on the DoMLE's radar.

Tait Aldridge, the Auror assigned to the case was a little too good at his job and began to realize that the Ministry itself was the ones responsible. The DoM Head of the time panicked. Unwilling to be responsible for wide-spread scandal, 'Mysteries terminated the project again and broke contract with Burke, who was paid one last lump sum to take care of Aldridge before he talked. Burke murdered the Auror and then fled to Jordan. 

The Role of the Middle East

The Middle East is where Burke is getting the Runespoor from. In my head, I've always imagined the trade industry as a complex mafia, with a "family" of Egyptian wizards at its head -- given their ease of access to Africa where the snakes originate. This area has a strong history of strife and the Runespoor Industry there is powerful, influential, and a very big nuisance, often causing havoc for Israel and Jordan. Burke spent many years here, joining in and relishing in the mayhem.

Early 2008 & Analiza Snark's Ambitions

In Early 2008, Analiza Snark, then Head of the DoM, eventually left her job at the Ministry due to disagreement with Minister Marcus Annwyl over her plans to brew an Ultimate Weapon, drawing heavily from the twice-over abandoned Runespoor projects in the past, drawing Level Two's watchful eye once again. Burke began smuggling snakes in again, whether this continued for the DoM after Snark left is up to you Unspeakable folks! But Burke has been having fun selling to whoever will buy back on his old turf.  However, Jonas and Adon busted a lot of Runespoor import attempts during the summer of 2009, and since then, things have been mostly quiet, so the case has been nominally closed.  A leak to the Runespoor Trade industry in DoIMC, Trevor Reid, was also caught and convicted.

NOW

New leads into Auror Tait Aldridge's death and Runespoor-styled death threats to reporters are showing a resurgence of activity. Burke's Middle-Eastern friends are not thrilled with the Runespoor activity in the UK and he's back again to clean up the mess before it threatens establishments back on their own turf. As far as the Aurors Office investigation goes, Tamis Raynor and Jonas Trevelyan have suspected for some time that Aldridge's death was related to something much larger and unsavory with the Ministry and they are investigating the case very close to their chests in a hush-hush manner given how disastrous it could prove to under-minding the  government at a time where it really can't afford the suspicion. The Aurors collectively on the case are: Trevelyan, Eleor, Raynor & Radley.

They recently acquired Tait Aldridge's journal which will reveal his research on the DoM & Runespoor activity, but its written in magical code and will take time to translate.

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Who are we looking for?

Department of Mysteries Characters! Past & Present.

Sparky has offered, if needed,  to create the former Head of the Department of Mysteries who headed the research for a weapon against Lord Voldemort during the second war & who ordered the assassination of Tait Aldridge before everything was blown up into a large conspiracy in the eyes of the Public.

But we also need: Current moles? Is there Runespoor Venom research still currently being conducted? Are there any current Unspeakables who knew of this project or are still involved? Unspeakables from the first war? Other Ministry personnel involved in the Runespoor operations for their own agendas?

Other Ministry Personnel

Wizengamot Elders, the Minister, anyone else who might have or has become privileged to what the DoM was up to. Folks that may want to encourage or discourage Auror Investigation for their own political agendas and reasons.

Criminals

I'm looking to network Burke. If you think there are business arrangements for us, past, present, or future, he's all for the fun. ;-)

Any and everyone else who's interest this has caught.

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Okay, whew. I just did a lot of typing. You guys turn ;-)

'Kay, so...

First and most importantly, I've got Adam here. He's my animagus turned cursebreaker turned assassin and over all criminal. His one interest is economical. As a criminal, he usses the pseudonym "The Fox" and only a few privileged people would be aware they're one and the same. But I'd love to get him involved with Burke.

Also, I'll soon be creating another criminal, Aidan Renwick. He's much more sofisticated than Adam. And could easily have somehow been involed in the project back in the day -funding, or anything needed. I doubt he would have cared much for defeating Voldemort, but I could easily see him having been privy to the Ministry's plans and have helped fund them for his own dark purposes.l, as he's quite an influential bloke.

And I can also offer up Coop and Harry if ever you need more Aurors.

Aviad + Burke + long nights huddled around a campfire in the Jordanian desert = BFFLs?

I'm not especially attached to making the Department of Mysteries character -- if someone else has an idea, or wants to jump on it, please feel free.    I just volunteered in case we get to the point where we need him.

Dotty as a criminal I've thought of having involved with smuggling, but the Runespoor craze had died down when she was introduced.

There is one thing I think would get more bang out of the metaphorical buck, via my secondary/face of an NPC family; Martin O'Doherty and the other O'Dohertys. The family is insanely rich and has ties to the criminal underworld. Never anything to catch them red handed but their funds can be the support of many a criminal venture.

Martin is an independent lawyer and lobbyist but is frequently in and out of the ministry. A recent chat with Sparky suggested Martin could be another 'mole/spy' of sensitive ministry information for Burke and the other smugglers, however far the O'Dohertys are involved with the smuggling.

Though this also relates to a tangent plot I have, this other noticeable blip in AO criminal history could be an interesting tie-in to the Runespoor plots. That is Nate Briggs' robbery of a Muhra Glass. These are rare potion artifacts that can store anything 'at the peak of freshness' be it an easily spoiled or unstable ingredient.

The value of Muhra Glass would then be very desirable for the Runespoor criminal element, as it could transport the venom safely without the usual risks of straight venom or live Runespoor.

I'm currently brainstorming the Muhra Glass revisit with other authors but that plot could bleed over in support of this one.

Adam Turner: Burke and Adam could have easily met when Turner put his cursebreaking chops to work in Egypt! Our smuggler here was in that area from 1995-2008. Turner's criminal aspects aside, I imagine smugglers and cursebreakers have a very muddy-grey relationship when it comes to artifacts and acquiring them. Either working together or against one another. ;-)

Aidan Renwick: I think this could be feasible, it would be an explanation for how the research could have been kept off the books. While he might not have cared about defeating Voldemort, how would he have felt about the Ministry making that attempt? It could have put him in a very bad place if it all went sour (which it did). If Renwick is a less down-and-dirty criminal and more of bored rich man, maybe the DoM reached out discretely for benefactors without really revealing their purpose just that it'd give him status with the Ministry if it turned out the way they wanted? They're not a very forward department with their intentions and it could be one of many excuses to be bitter towards the government these days.

Cooper Evans & Harry Potter: The plot might be set as far as investigators on Level Two goes. Jonas and Raynor are being very careful to keep it under wraps. Though I suspect Burke might cause some mayhem for the Aurors as a whole, directly or indirectly. So they may still cross paths. ;-)

Aviad Cohen: Haha, yes please! I think Burke will find it amusing watching him try to adjust to English lifestyle and customs, he'd call it karma.

Martin O'Doherty: I like this a lot :-). Being a lawyer and lobbyist would give Martin access to a lot of different areas of the Ministry and he'd be a type that would float under most folks radar -- perfect spy contact. The Runespoor Industry has been burned enough by the Ministry that having several contacts to get an insiders look of whats going on would be advantageous.

Muhra Glass: This is a really cool story line and I love the concept. In theory, the glass would be desirable, but I'm not sure if it would actually be able to hold Runespoor Venom without it shattering. The venom and magic don't get along and the glass itself is very fragile. From a business standpoint, there doesn't seem to be enough of it for the Runespoor Trade to be able to market successfully. It would have to be a more economical option than just transporting snakes themselves.

Off of the Muhra Glass tie in, I guess the question is how you think Runespoor venom would react with the magical properties of a device vs being reactive to actual spell fire (which has been the source of all other dangers with the venom). As for the magic at work with Muhra Glass, the contents are unaffected by time so any potion component could be stored indefinitely.

Regardless of whether the Muhra Glass can store the venom safely or not, the other drawback would be the rarity of the pieces. Two intact artifacts were mentioned in prior AO canon. To keep Muhra Glass to a believable rarity, there should be fewer than a half dozen pieces. If one was recovered by the criminal side it could warrant a test delivery. One piece mentioned prior was in a Russian museum which could be stolen outside of UK Ministry knowledge.

Darn it, I'd written up a reply to this, and then my computer froze. *Headesk* Okay, shall try to write this all up again.

Adam - Adam was a different bloke back in Egypt. He still hadn't quite gotten into being an assassin just yet, but mostly spent his time there planning what came next. It'd be easy to say that he and Burke met, and that Burke might even have been somewhat of an influence on Adam later leading towards the criminal way of life. Adam, at least, would have worked with Burke if he saw the need. He's not the type to really care if Burke was a criminal or not - Adam might not be a complete evil master mind, but his one and only care is in getting whatever he wants when he wants it. So if he thought Burke could be of use for an assignment, he would have at least tried to use Burke. Other than that, he really wouldn't have cared much. But, yeah, it'd be fun to say they knew each other back then, and somehow drag Adam in in the present.

Aidan - The one problem there is that I'm not certain Renwick would have helped finance something he didn't know everything about. Sure, he likes to keep the Ministry thinking he's a good guy -even though, in the present, his name is pretty much linked to every kind of criminal activity, and the only reason he's not in Azkaban is because they haven't been able to find hard evidence on him. But back in the days, he might still have been a bit hidden: a wealthy, powerful man, who sits behind the curtains and pulls the strings, is basically what he is. He's a criminal full and full, profiting on anything he can - but mostly not getting his own hands dirty. ICly, I'd see him having had somewhat of a contract with the DoM to help them get financing for experimental weapons in the like. He's the type of man who'd do it, although his agenda would have been quite more than simply helping the Ministry save the world.

In funding their experiments, he'd consider he was getting a front seat view of what they were up to, and even be able to steal their technology. The moment they shut up about what they were using their money for, he would have pulled out, so I'm going to guess he'd probably have had to know at least the basics of what they were doing in regards to the Runespoor Venom. They might not have been entirely forthcoming, though, in which case he would have simply gotten his information from a different source.

Which brings me to "The Mole" - Sparky has commented in relation to a plot regarding a mole in the ministry who apparently has saved Renwick's butt by removing evidence, that there's also been mention of a mole in regards to the Runespoor plot. Way I see it, having two moles in the MLE at once just makes the office seem ineffictive. So why not mare both moles into one? Who the Mole is working for, I can't be sure, but obviously Renwick'd have some tie to him or her.

...And I'm uncertain I actually got anywhere with all that XD Just brainstorming, really.

Dante is the current head of the DoM.  He has worked their for his entire professional career and is a potions master.  So, even if he's not on board with experiments involving Runespoors at the moment, I would think he has been in the past.  Perhaps he may find a need to experiment again.

Anyway, if I can be of help in any way with the DoM part of the plot let me know.

Lexus is working both sides, essentially, living in Knockturn and taking liberties with her Potions school - knowingly storing and producing illegal potions to keep her unsavouring customer base happy. Yet she's also currently working as an informant for the MLE to keep her hide out of azkaban. I've already started with him suggesting that something major is going down in the underworld but she doesn't know specifics yet - which will likely tie into this plot. She's also aware that there's a mole in the Ministry but  once again doesn't know any of the specifics. She can be used either to feed information to the Aurors or to find herself in a little deep by housing smuggled items.

The previous player of Burke and I had worked out a connection to the Grumman family in the past and if you're interested, we can certainly keep that/develop it more, especially now that I'm working on bringing in Melanthe's Grandfather, who has probably been masquerading under an alias for decades. Perhaps Burke is someone who knows who he really is.

Muhra Glass: Hmm, I think its magical properties itself, rather than just spell-fire, which is what would make it effective as a poison. It burns and scars when it comes in contact with a wizard's skin, too. That, and given its obscure quantities, would probably keep the Runespoor folks from bothering with it. But it sounds like there's enough criminal interest in it already to keep things interesting. ;-)

Adam Turner: Haha, I love this! Burke would pride himself on being a bad influence. He dislikes establishment, sees a lot inherently wrong with it. So if he played a role in encouraging someone to test societal norms, he would be pleased.

Adian Renwick: The "universal mole role" could make that work. Knowing the basics, having an informant keeping him a bit more in the known than he should have been, and pulling out when the DoM became even dodgier than normal works well, I think. :-)

Dante Ward: TRACEY! Haha. I think everyone would love you forever. This plot is in desperate need of 'Mysteries involvement (-eyes all the Unspeakables out there with peer pressure-), so we'd love if you were on board :-).  Whatever role you want Dante to play, we'd gladly have him! Same with wrangling things on the DoM side of things. It would be neat to actually have an IC conflict of interest between Level Two and Level Nine, I know we've all said it happens, but it would be neat to actually see it play out.

Lexus Dale: I personally think both options are awesome, whichever way you want Lex to go! As far as Burke is concerned, he would love to corner someone into help temporarily store smuggled items. It could become a tricksy situation if he was/became aware of her double-agenting with the Aurors. Especially if the mole she is helping suss out is also one of his contacts.

Grumman Family: Totally  .  If you want to work out specifics over PM, we can! I like the idea of Grandfather Grumman & Burke being in cahoots.

We still need a little bit longer to get things going on the Auror side, but Amberlee, I think we are way overdue for a Jonas/Lexus thread.    He trusts her 100%, and I could totally see him coming to her for help in regards to the Runespoor stuff, if you're interested in getting her involved that way.  It seems like it's been so long since we've written them together!

Yes definitely Sparky, I miss writing them together. I could definitely see Jonas asking her to check in on the possible knockturn connection to Runespoor only to have her find herself in too deep when she starts working with Burke (directly or indirectly) to help house the smuggled goods.

That sounds amazing!

Adam- I'd be happy to have that be the case then! Would also be happy to thread these two - Either a pensive thread in Egypt, or a current thread with the two catching up after years, Adam revealing his little killer secret

Renwick- Again, that sounds good and just like him - the DoM wanted funding, so he had the mole work out what it was for, pitched in and then pulled out. I could see him wanting to jump back in now. But, yeah, his app should be up today, just have to finish writting his history. I'll probs include this portion of it.

I can offer up Taras Strelnikov to be a long time associate of Burke. He was most active in the time period around the 2nd war (during, before, and after) as the top man in multiple smuggling/black-market good rings. He didn't really break into England, but he was moving things out of Africa through both South Africa and Egypt, so he was probably had a few runespoor coming through.

He's welcome to reconnect with Taras whenever he wishes!